I attended book club tonight, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That is not to say that I don't enjoy book club every time I attend. However tonight I felt that I really needed to get out of the house and do something just for me, with no children demanding, no mother hoovering around, and no dishes aggravating my calmness. The funny thing is that there were only five of us tonight at book club, but even so we stayed till just before midnight. I think we all needed a night away from everything.
It was delicious being with friends and talking about anything and everything. I can't remember what we didn't touch upon. I remember conversing about family, husbands, children, friends, good qualities we like in others and would like to emulate, movies, musicals, life stories, religion, food, TV shows, motherhood, individual desires, and many more. Talking, venting, sharing, learning, all of that made me more calmer and ready to start my day refreshed. I believe as women, especially most of us who do stay home and don't have constant adult conversations, need these nights out as much as men need sports or long meetings. It helps us feel we aren't the only ones who lose it sometimes with the children or who can't stand one more load of laundry or dishes or who fall asleep while reading to the kids. It also helps me learn from others how to be a better individual or friend.
However, my favorite get together is book club. Reading a book for me is like listening to a symphony trying to enjoy the music as well as understand its genius. Talking about the books I read comes so naturally to me as if a melody is flowing amorously directly from my soul. It's this connection that I have with the written word that makes me defy sleep and fatigue. I also enjoy tremendously what others have to say. I love to hear things that I haven't thought of myself or sides of the story or the character that I haven't considered. I truly enjoy it when I learn new things or I have been made to think beyond the obvious.
Tonight we discussed the Phantom of the Opera. I really enjoyed reading this book. Even though I liked the book better than the musical, I have to admit that I was grateful that I had heard and seen the musical, because while I read the words I could hear the music accompanying the specific scenes. We all agreed that the book really made us want to visit the cellars and the underside of the Paris Opera House.
This month, befitting to our President's day celebrations, we are reading John Adams. I can't wait to read it again and learn and be inspired by the great men and women of that time as our country was being born.
What books is your book club reading? What is your favorite outing by yourself?
Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book club. Show all posts
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Busy is my nick name
These past few days, I've received a few text messages from Elijah teasing me for not writing in my blog by saying that I was disappointing my fans. I myself hate it when I don't keep up with my blog, because I consider this to be my journal and I like to write everyday. However, sometimes life gets really busy and I have to choose between my activities. Life is all about priorities.
I'll try to keep this post short, but I would like to recap my last three days. Tuesday was busy with laundry and grocery shopping, as well as some projects I had wanted to accomplish for a long time. As a result, as always, the children needed more attention, because they weren't getting their usual quota. When the evening came, I asked Elijah to help the children with their evening routine. I was exhausted and sat down to read. I even missed a get together with some girl friends, which I really wanted to attend.
I took Charlton to the doctor on Wednesday for his 9 month check-up. The doctor was amazed at Charlton's health, and especially his mouth full of teeth (eight so far). Charlton is way excited about his crawling and is trying to climb stairs. He hasn't had any luck yet, and I'm not cheering him on. He really likes to imitate what we do, and when walk past him, you can tell he is trying to figure out how to stand up and walk. He tries to stand up by holding on chairs, and then he gets frustrated and falls. It's then when he wants me to pick him up. My back is starting to hurt, because I'm carrying this 25lb baby in my arms. You can't help but want to hold this chunk of deliciousness, though, especially when he continues to smile for you. Here is a short video of our crawling Charlton.
After the doctor appointment, Gillian had a play date, while I cleaned and cooked. They wanted a banana slip, but ended up not eating the bananas in the end. Funny kids.
Thursday was a very busy day. I had wanted to do some summer shopping for me for a long time. So, I took Charlton and James and visited few stores. It helped that Jefferson had a play date with one of his friends, which gave me more time to browse longer. When I got back, my friend Alice asked me if I could take care of her kids for an hour or so. Her kids and my kids get along well with each other, so I knew it wasn't going to be just an hour. They usually end up staying the whole day, which is totally fine with me, except today I was planning to do a lot of cleaning. Our friend from Virginia, Paul, was coming to visit with us for the weekend, and as a result I wanted my house spic and span. I said "yes" of course, and tried not to get panicky. When Jefferson was back from his play date, he took over playing with Clare, which wasn't what James wanted. However, because he is a good sport, he asked Clare's mom if she wanted to do something with him. When she said yes, he told her he had the best activity for them both: listening to the Old Testament tapes. He further continued to share his knowledge about his favorite prophets and kings of the Old Testament. He really wanted to be like King Solomon, the wisest man on earth. This was amazing coming from James, because he has hard time expressing himself, as well as he is a bit private about his own feelings. He listened to the tapes for a long time, and he fell asleep doing so on the floor. James surprises me each day. I'm really glad he is opening up more for me to understand him better. And I have no doubt that his improvement in speech is a direct result of listening to the scriptures.
I did have just enough time to clean the bathrooms and put the house in order. I had to go to my book club at eight, so I asked Elijah to vacuum. He, then, took the kids and picked up Paul from the metro station.
It was our first book discussion. We had a good turn out, and the discussion was stimulating. The food that Jacki prepared was awesome. I brought two little bags full of Jacki's fudge for Elijah and Paul, and they both thought it was 'out of this world' delicious.
I'm so glad we've started this new book club. It is fun to feel like an adult once in a while.
I'll try to keep this post short, but I would like to recap my last three days. Tuesday was busy with laundry and grocery shopping, as well as some projects I had wanted to accomplish for a long time. As a result, as always, the children needed more attention, because they weren't getting their usual quota. When the evening came, I asked Elijah to help the children with their evening routine. I was exhausted and sat down to read. I even missed a get together with some girl friends, which I really wanted to attend.
I took Charlton to the doctor on Wednesday for his 9 month check-up. The doctor was amazed at Charlton's health, and especially his mouth full of teeth (eight so far). Charlton is way excited about his crawling and is trying to climb stairs. He hasn't had any luck yet, and I'm not cheering him on. He really likes to imitate what we do, and when walk past him, you can tell he is trying to figure out how to stand up and walk. He tries to stand up by holding on chairs, and then he gets frustrated and falls. It's then when he wants me to pick him up. My back is starting to hurt, because I'm carrying this 25lb baby in my arms. You can't help but want to hold this chunk of deliciousness, though, especially when he continues to smile for you. Here is a short video of our crawling Charlton.
After the doctor appointment, Gillian had a play date, while I cleaned and cooked. They wanted a banana slip, but ended up not eating the bananas in the end. Funny kids.
Thursday was a very busy day. I had wanted to do some summer shopping for me for a long time. So, I took Charlton and James and visited few stores. It helped that Jefferson had a play date with one of his friends, which gave me more time to browse longer. When I got back, my friend Alice asked me if I could take care of her kids for an hour or so. Her kids and my kids get along well with each other, so I knew it wasn't going to be just an hour. They usually end up staying the whole day, which is totally fine with me, except today I was planning to do a lot of cleaning. Our friend from Virginia, Paul, was coming to visit with us for the weekend, and as a result I wanted my house spic and span. I said "yes" of course, and tried not to get panicky. When Jefferson was back from his play date, he took over playing with Clare, which wasn't what James wanted. However, because he is a good sport, he asked Clare's mom if she wanted to do something with him. When she said yes, he told her he had the best activity for them both: listening to the Old Testament tapes. He further continued to share his knowledge about his favorite prophets and kings of the Old Testament. He really wanted to be like King Solomon, the wisest man on earth. This was amazing coming from James, because he has hard time expressing himself, as well as he is a bit private about his own feelings. He listened to the tapes for a long time, and he fell asleep doing so on the floor. James surprises me each day. I'm really glad he is opening up more for me to understand him better. And I have no doubt that his improvement in speech is a direct result of listening to the scriptures.
I did have just enough time to clean the bathrooms and put the house in order. I had to go to my book club at eight, so I asked Elijah to vacuum. He, then, took the kids and picked up Paul from the metro station.
It was our first book discussion. We had a good turn out, and the discussion was stimulating. The food that Jacki prepared was awesome. I brought two little bags full of Jacki's fudge for Elijah and Paul, and they both thought it was 'out of this world' delicious.
I'm so glad we've started this new book club. It is fun to feel like an adult once in a while.
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